Mai is the last native heir to Shiranui-ryuu Ninjutsu, with a particular skill in fire ninja magic. She has a loving infatuation with - and at least as of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, is engaged to - fellow Shiranui-ryuu practitioner Andy Bogard, whom she trained with at a relatively young age and she came to see as a good man (though she tended to move the relationship a little too quickly for Andy's liking). As of Garou: Mark of the Wolves, she and Andy both train a young Shiranui-ryuu disciple named Hokutomaru. She is good friends with most of the rest of the Fatal Fury roster, not least of which includes Andy's brother Terry and best friend Joe Higashi. In The King of Fighters, she is a founding member of the Women Fighters Team alongside King and Yuri Sakazaki.
Mai is one of SNK's most popular characters, appearing in numerous cross-overs and promotions. Her oldest and arguably greatest cross-company rival is Capcom's Street Fighter'sChun-Li. She notably appears as a guest character in both Dead or Alive (DOA 5 Last Round and DOA 6) and Street Fighter 6, being the second ever guest character (after Terry) to appear in a mainline Street Fighter title.
Due to her revealing attire, she was allegedly denied a cameo in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, since she would be challenging the game's CERO rating of A; the way Sakurai put it in the announcement ("Smash is for good boys and girls") was turned into a meme. She received a new outfit with her appearance in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. The tank top and short shorts/dolphin shorts casualwear/nightwear she wore in her SNK Heroines ending, previously referenced in her and Andy's Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 endings, makes a cameo appearance as part of her character select animation in Street Fighter 6.
